Minnesota Sports Forum

It was fun having some meaningful baseball even though the Twins couldn't come through at the end. This season was a success no doubt all things considered.

monsterpile wrote:It was fun having some meaningful baseball even though the Twins couldn't come through at the end. This season was a success no doubt all things considered.

Yes, it was a success monster. You may have noticed I have a tendency to be too optimistic about the Wolves, but 83 wins exceeded my expectations for the Twins. Great job by Mollie and the young guys! Here's my prescription for next year:

1) Find a starting catcher. Suzuki is one of my favorite Twins, but because of his character and toughness, not his play. He was dead last in throwing out runners...only 15%! And his bat isn't good enough to make up for his terrible arm.

2) Tell Escobar he is their starting SS today. He may have been our MVP this year. Reliable in the field, and always came up with the big hit. Surprising pop in his bat.

3) Negotiate with Mauer. Tell him he is no longer our #3 hitter, but tell him he still has a spot in the lineup if he agrees to re-negotiate his contract. Appeal to his sense of fairness and desire to win. Tell him they will go out and sign the best free agent catcher out there if Joe will agree to cut his salary in half...by the way, he will still be making $13 million a year. If he refuses, bench him and play Sano every day at 1b and give Hunter/Kepler the DH and RF roles.

4) Say goodbye to Pelfrey, and see if someone will take Nolasco for a draft pick if we will cover half of his salary. Re-sign Milone. Go into the year with a rotation of Gibson, Duffey, Santana, Berrios and Hughes (on a short list). Stephen Gonsalves will be ready mid-year if Hughes falters.

5) End the Perkins as closer era. Keep him as a left-handed reliever, but find a new closer. I think it should be Trevor May.

We will win the division next year with these moves.

LST the money with Mauer doesn't matter. His role and even presence on the roster and what they do with him does. It's a tough deal. I'll say this he was healthy and had a nicer 2nd half of the year and it seems like he was better defensively at 1st this year. Like I said it's a tough deal.

Name the FA catcher's that are worth signing that are significant upgrades of Suzuki. My point in saying this is don't get your hopes up too high. Unless we make some sort of move I would like to see Herrmann get the backup job next year to start out there is no way he hits that bad next year. I am not saying he is a good hitter but not as bad as he showed in 2015 and it sounds like he was pretty good defensively since they didn't mess around with him playing a bunch of positions. That position needs some upgrades though no doubt.

monsterpile wrote:LST the money with Mauer doesn't matter. His role and even presence on the roster and what they do with him does. It's a tough deal. I'll say this he was healthy and had a nicer 2nd half of the year and it seems like he was better defensively at 1st this year. Like I said it's a tough deal.

Name the FA catcher's that are worth signing that are significant upgrades of Suzuki. My point in saying this is don't get your hopes up too high. Unless we make some sort of move I would like to see Herrmann get the backup job next year to start out there is no way he hits that bad next year. I am not saying he is a good hitter but not as bad as he showed in 2015 and it sounds like he was pretty good defensively since they didn't mess around with him playing a bunch of positions. That position needs some upgrades though no doubt.

You make two great points, monster. After I wrote this post, I looked at which catchers are free agents, and there is nobody better than Suzuki. Maybe they have to consider trading a prospect or two for a really good catcher or catching prospect.

You are so right about Mauer's defense. I would call him almost elite over there defensively. He makes the diving stop to his right better than anyone in the league...sometimes I forget what a terrific athlete he is. He is just not a #3 hitter though, and never will be. I would not be upset with him hitting in the 2 hole though. His OBP is still as good as anyone other than Sano.

The move to be made is simple, but the team doesn't have the guts to do it. Move Mauer back to catcher and have Suzuki spell him on nights he needs to rest. He'd instantly be one of the best offensive catchers in baseball again and 1B would open for a big bat all year. Mauer would take up the DH spot more, but if you play Sano at 3rd (I'm done with Plouffe. He'll always be a .250 20-25 home run guy which doesn't cut it) that leaves first open for the best performing bat in spring training. Trade Plouffe for some bullpen help and roll with:

Buxton CF
Mauer C
Sano 3B
Vargas DH
1B
Dozier 2B
Rosario RF
Escobar SS
Hicks LF

If Buxton takes an expected step forward next year that's a deep lineup. It doesn't have the most power in the world (depending on who ends up playing first), but it has capable power throughout most of the lineup. Then a Rosario, Buxton, Hicks outfield would be fantastic defensively and we could focus on our pitching moving forward.

Isn't there a medical concern with Mauer playing catcher? It would be great if he could catch 80 games, but it is not likely to happen. I think we will need to trad Plouffe and make room for Max Kepler at 1st. We will need to hope some more pitchers develop and we can find a young catcher with a little more of a bat.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Isn't there a medical concern with Mauer playing catcher? It would be great if he could catch 80 games, but it is not likely to happen. I think we will need to trad Plouffe and make room for Max Kepler at 1st. We will need to hope some more pitchers develop and we can find a young catcher with a little more of a bat.

There's nothing preventing him from going back injury wise. He's just more likely to miss time as a catcher because of stupid shit like bilateral leg weakness. He caught 74 and 75 games his last two years as a catcher ('12-'13) so he's not that far off from your 80 game mark. You just can't have your first baseman/DH play 158 games and hit 10 HR's with 66 RBI and a .380 slugging percentage when your team desperately needs more power bats in the lineup. His defense at first isn't worth him blocking that power bat spot. Even having him catch for 70 games would be a huge improvement. Now that he's played first for 2+ years I don't see why it'd be hard for him to catch 70 games, play first for 40-50 games and DH the rest. He's making 25 million. Make him earn it by moving him around to maximize the lineup.

I know it would take a large commitment from the ownership group but, what if the team moves Mauer to catcher (spilt with Suzuki), sign $$$$ Chris Davis from Baltimore. Idk 4 years $72M?

Mauer isn't moving back to catcher guys No use wasting time arguing about it.

And it was the concussion issues that forced him out of catching, not so much the other stuff

Move Plouffe for bullpen help? Oh, khans... No. That'd be a terrible mistake. You don't trade your best run producer for a relief pitcher. Plouffe led this team with 86 RBI. I expect him to be second next year in that category to Sano only. There's also the likelihood of Hunter (2nd-most RBI with 80) retiring this off-season. We went through some very rough scoring droughts this season. Getting rid of Plouffe does not help that whatsoever.

The fact is this: a 1B/3B/DH combo of Mauer/Plouffe/Sano (in whatever mix you want) is MUCH better than a 1B/3B/DH combo of Mauer/Sano/Vargas. It's just not even close. The drop-off would be too significant.

Also, I 100% disagree with the notion that there aren't better catching options available than ole Kurt "Easy Out" Suzuki. For starters, A.J. Pierzynski is a free agent again and just had a season where he posted a .300/.339/.430 line in 113 games. Let's compare that to Suzuki's .240/.296/.314 line. That's night and day, and it's not like A.J. is going to be expensive either.

Should the Pohlads and Terry Ryan find a way to dump Nolasco, they could be big spenders for Matt Wieters this off-season. You have to admit, the fit would be great. Switch-hitting catcher with solid slashes and pretty good pop. He'd fit in nicely behind Sano in this lineup. His agent is Boras, which could be an issue, and he's had injury issues the last couple of seasons, but I don't think he'll be overly expensive. I could see him getting something similar to Russell Martin's five-year, $82M deal. If Wieters is healthy, and he should be (finally), I think he's worth it.

There's also the option of trade. Jonathan Lucroy is signed through 2016 and has a team option for 2017. The Brewers are in full-blown rebuild mode. When healthy, I can make an argument that Lucroy's the best overall catcher in baseball, though it'd be an argument and not a definitive statement. Regardless, he's an All-Star player just entering his prime and is above average with the bat and behind the plate. We have the farm depth to make a deal happen, especially if we center the deal around Kepler and Meyer.

By the way, Chris Herrmann is not an MLB-worthy baseball player. No team needs to waste a roster spot on that guy.